21st Century Learning: Teachers, Testing, and 21st Century “Talk”

Why I’m Even Doing This Overview - 8:00-8:05 In June, I attended the first master teachers academy in Sioux Falls with 30+ other teachers from across the state We learned about 21st Century Skills and what it means to utilize them in the classroom One of the requirements was to present something about 21st Century Skills at a staff in-service, so I’m here to fulfill that requirement But if I’m going to be here doing this, I’m hoping that it will be a benefit to both you and me and that we get something out of this experience

Our Inspiration: Kids!! "A child is a person who is going to carry on whatever you have started. He is going to sit where you are sitting and when you are gone, attend to those things which you think are important. You may adopt all the policies you please, but how they will be carried out depends on him. He will assume control of your cities, states and nations. He is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations. Your books are going to be judged, accepted or condemned by him. The fate of humanity is in his hands. So it might be well to pay him some attention."  – Abraham Lincoln. 8:00-8:05 I wanted to end with something that doesn’t have anything to specifically with 21st Century skills, but whenever I need a pick-me-up or am struggling to focus in the midst of grading papers, coaching duties, meetings, personal responsibilities – all those challenges that can stress us and put us on a roller coaster, I read this (which is posted above my computer desk) to remind of why I do what I do. And I just found out yesterday doing a search that Abraham Lincoln stated this, and I have collected many of his quotes in the past. It comes down to whom I’m most accountable to: my kids. Hope your day goes well. Thanks for putting up with me!

“Pre-learning” Strategy 8:05-8:15 - KWL I decided to “run” this 90 minute time frame similar to how I would run my own classroom So I need one person at each table to volunteer to go through the “X” drive to get to my handout folder; copy and paste the KWL chart to your desktop (you can delete it later). You will record information into the KWL for your group. The rest of you can shut your lids for the time being. Once you’ve accessed the good “ole” KWL, ask yourselves: What do we already KNOW? What do we WANT to know? Later we’ll discuss the “what we LEARNED”. I’ll give you about 5 minutes to accomplish this task. Sharing

21st Century Skills and Teachers So 21st Century skills are one of the latest trends in education today; what does that mean for us? Well, obviously, our classrooms have changed. How we teach is also changing because … Our students have changed …

8:15-8:25 – 21st Century Skills and Teachers Maybe you’ve heard the term Generation “Y” or “millennials” or “digital natives”. And this photo pretty much sums up the fact that they are always connecting to other people using various technology.

So what about teachers? 8:25-8:35 – 21st Century Skills and Teachers

8:35-8:50– 21st Century Skills Video and sharing Again, I’m not an expert in 21st Century skills; however, it’s easy for me to seek out the experts because of the Internet. Let’s listen to a little of what some of those involved in the development of 21st Century Skills have to say. Before we listen, could you open a Word document. Then, while you listen, make a list of at least skills, words, “catch phrases” that you associate with 21st Century Skills. List at least five, but if you can challenge yourself to jot down more. Stop at 3:20 – “I don’t think we have a choice …” Sharing

Our Community “List” Critical thinking Non-routine Inquiry Global awareness Collaboration Independent thought Complex communication Evaluation of information/resources Technology literacy Focus on learning, not so much on teaching Problem solving Critical analysis Innovate Create Idea generators 8:50-9:05– 21st Century Skills Video and sharing Share some of the “catch phrases,” words, and skills that you heard. Who feels confident in their keyboarding skills? Could someone come keyboard for me?

21st Century Skills and Testing So the folks in the film clip strongly voiced that teachers are going to have to make changes not only in their teaching methods but also in their approach to curriculum. Still, when we take in such information, one of the first thing on teachers’ minds might be: we’ve got all of this testing and these curriculum standards to worry about; how do we add one more thing to our plate? There are certain things we have to get done by April. Who has the time to do this? Let’s take a look at 2 perspectives.

21st Century and Testing 9:05-9:10 - testing

9:10-9:40– Zhao video and discussion I think we all understand those frustrations . This next video was passed on to me by a friend, and I warned Mr. Berens that I would be showing it. I like the video because it makes me wonder if how we go about things is the best for kids. It challenges me to rethink my own philosophies. It is about 10 minutes long, though, but it is intriguing because it pretty much goes against everything we discussed at our last staff meeting. Could you close your lids please while you watch? Now go back to your Word document; instead of a list, we’re going to free-write about Yong Zhao’s perspective of testing for several minutes. How do you feel about his perspective? Does it challenge your own way of thinking? Is this philosophy attainable? Now share some of your thoughts at your table. Be prepared to share one or two main points with the whole group.

The Skills “Rainbow” 21stcenturyskills.org 9:40-9:55 – review of 21st Century skills - questions So now that we’ve been introduced a little to the skills through different perspectives, what have you learned? If the person in charge of the KWL could open the KWL again, let’s add to it. Sharing 21stcenturyskills.org

How can we create and collaborate? http://mitchellresources.pbworks.com/ 9:55-10:00 One thing I’d love to see us try, especially now that we’re without an integrationist, is to share resources across content areas and grade levels. So our HS colleague Teresa Berndt suggested a wiki of resources that teachers might be able to add to. The wiki is set up at the URL you see here. It’s still a work in progress; however, if you are interested in joining the wiki, you simply let me know, and I can invite you to join. I can also give you information on how to add links so that we can work together in this way. After all, the more ideas, the better.

Celebrate the “Rainbow” (will time allow?) So, finally, instead of ending with what we could be doing – because let’s face it, there’s always more – let’s celebrate some of the things we already do. What I’d like you to do now is get into groups according to your teams. Now I realize 8th grade teachers aren’t teamed and that some of you are attached to multiple teams and multiple grade levels, so pick a group to go to. Just try to make sure that there’s variety in content areas that are represented. I’m going to give each group 1 copy of a more in-depth description of the rainbow’s topics. For example, let’s take a look at life and career skills. These, in my opinion, would be the things we’ve done with Character Counts or the 40 assets; these are the things we do every day in making kids accountable, in holding them responsible, in giving them goals to meet and the time limit in which to do them, in asking for appropriate social skills when working with others, in meeting with them during team meetings, in our discipline plan. In other words, we’re already working on this 21st Century Skill. Next, I just want to highlight a few. Let’s take a look at “learning and innovation” – what do you do in your classroom that fits the subgroups of “communication and collaboration”? Talk amongst yourselves. Sharing. Now let’s move on to Information, Media, and Technology Skills. What, for example, do you already do in the area of information literacy. Sharing. A standard relating to information literacy was actually one of the standards Pat identified as low on our reading scores. Finally, comes the challenge – the interdisciplinary themes and the assessments that go along with 21st Century learning. As we head into an afternoon of school improvement discussion, it will be interesting to see if we can take an “outside of the box” approach to meet the needs of our kids. 21stcenturyskills.org